


a drop in the ocean

by snowysatoru



Series: fe femslash week 2018 [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Day At The Beach, F/F, fefemslash week day 4: love, most of the fe8 ladies go to the beach and they have a good ol time, there's some eirika/l'arachel if you squint enough but it's only vague at best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 02:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15354315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowysatoru/pseuds/snowysatoru
Summary: Marisa has never been a fan of going to the beach, so Tethys somehow managing to bring her along to spend a weekend over at Eirika's family's beach house she'll never be able to figure out. But maybe she can find paradise within the scorching heat.





	a drop in the ocean

**Author's Note:**

> Written for FE Femslash Week Day 4: Love
> 
> I tried really hard to get this done yesterday, but my computer decided to completely shit on itself and that's why I'm uploading it today instead. But better late than never, am I right? :'D
> 
> Summer Tana being a thing in Heroes was the big inspiration for this and I'm very happy with how this turned out. I hope you all enjoy!

While the summer heat has never bothered Marisa, she was also never a fan of going out to the beach. It wasn’t the sitting out in the sun part that bothered her, but rather the fact that they were far too crowded for her liking, especially with how anti-social she is. In the few times Tethys has brought her along throughout all the years the two have known each other —and Tethys even makes sure to find the least crowded spot she can on the beach—  it’s always ended up with Marisa sitting on her towel under an umbrella and avoid eye contact and hope that no one notices her. Tethys has always asked her why she doesn’t get herself out more and Marisa always shrugged it off and told her it is what it is.

So how Tethys managed to persuade her into going to the beach  _again_  is something that she’ll never find out. Yet here she was in the car with Tethys, staring outside the window while the other continues to drive.

“It’ll be different from all the other times I’ve brought you along, I promise,” Tethys says, her eyes still on the road.

“I’m not convinced,” Marisa bluntly states. “I don’t know how you expect me to deal with this for an entire weekend…”

“And did you expect me to deny an invitation offered by Eirika to go up to her family’s summer beach house?” Tethys quips back.

“... Fair enough.”

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Marisa. You’ll have fun this time, I guarantee it.”

“How so?”

“A little birdie told me that a certain girlfriend of yours is coming along too.”

“... Tana’s going to be there?” Marisa asks after about thirty seconds of silence.

“Aha!” Tethys chimes, the smile on her face growing. “I _knew_ that would catch your attention.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Marisa responds almost immediately, trying to fight off the reddening of her cheeks.

“I think you do.” Tethys teases.

“...”

“Listen to me, Marisa. I promise you’ll have fun this weekend. It’s just going to be people we all know. Including us, it’s only going to be: Eirika, Tana, L’Arachel, Marisa, Lute, Natasha, and Vanessa. Just us girls. You have nothing to worry about.”

“And what if I _don’t_ have fun, Tethys?”

“I’ll offer you this. If you don’t get  _any_ enjoyment out of the entire time that we're here, I’ll never take you to the beach ever again. Do we have a deal?”

“... Fine. You have yourself a deal.”

“Good. I’m glad we can agree on something.”

And that was the last sentence either of them said for the rest of the car ride down.

 

~~~

 

The moment Marisa wakes up from her nap, Tethys was just pulling in the driveway of the beach house, greeted by the sight of their friends having conversations with each other while unloading luggage and other supplies that played a part in the weekend’s plans.

“Up and at em’, Marisa,” Tethys speaks after she turns the car off. “We’re here. Come out and help me unload the trunk.”

A stretch of her legs and a yawn later and Marisa is getting out of the car, on her way to help out her friend.

She doesn’t get that far before she hears, “MARISAAAA!!!!”, and before she can blink she ends up with an armful of Tana, wearing the same bubbly smile that never failed to make Marisa’s heart skip a beat.

“I can’t believe you actually came!” Tana speaks excitedly. “I didn’t think you’d join us on this vacation!”

“W-Well… Let’s just say someone was able to change my mind…” Marisa chuckles weakly, trying to ignore the giggle that Tethys was attempting to hide.

“Well, I need to make sure I say ‘thank you’, then! This is going to be the best weekend ever now that you’re here, I guarantee that!”

“Uhhh I-I—”

“Tana, I’m sure you’re very eager to spend time with Marisa, but can you _please help me bring stuff into the house_?” Eirika butts in, her voice stern. “The sooner we can we everything situated inside, the sooner all of us don’t have to stand out here while the sun tries to burn us alive.”

Tana gives her best friend a pout, only for Eirika to burst into laughter at how ridiculous and childish her face looked; but she releases Marisa from her embrace and goes off to help with unloading the rest of the trunk from Eirika’s car. Marisa stands there for a brief second, speechless; until Tethys gives her a poke on the shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“You can be lovey-dovey with her later, lover girl,” Tethys jests, brushing off the glare Marisa shot towards her. “Now get over here and get your luggage before I lock it in the car for the entire time we’re here.”

Marisa rolls her eyes and goes to retrieve her suitcase from the trunk, following Tethys into the beach house.

 _’Maybe this beach trip will be better than I thought… ’_ Marisa tells herself.

 

~~~

 

After an hour and a half of moving stuff from cars and into the house; finding out who was going to room with who, followed by eating lunch and some people taking a nap, L’Arachel decided that it was the _perfect_ time for everyone to get ready and head over to the beach.

“The weather is absolutely perfect right now, darlings!” she insists. “Why would we let an opportunity such as this slip by?!”

“Because maybe we’re still just a little bit exhausted?” Lute retorts. “Go if you want, but leave me out of it.”

After a huff and a puff of her cheeks, L’Arachel successfully ropes in a few of the other girls to join her into going with her to the beach. Lute and Natasha offer to stay behind due to not wanting to deal with any sun at the moment, offering to come down once the sun starts to set as a compromise. Once everything was said and done, everyone else making their way towards the shore, ready to have some fun in the sun.

Unsurprisingly, Marisa finds herself sitting on her towel under an umbrella, much to Tethys’ disappointment. Unlike all the other previous beach visits, however, Marisa found herself not staring into the sand for once, actually taking in her surroundings and what’s happening around her. Most noticeably, she had her eyes on the sand court; where L’arachel, Tana, Vanessa, and Tethys were all playing a couple rounds of beach volleyball. Most of the matches were varying degrees of intensity, ranging from calm to very passionate —from what Marisa was able to see, at least— with lots of jumps, spiking, and diving into the sand. It was almost tempting to remove herself from her current spot and go join them. _Almost._

“You know, Marisa,” Eirika suddenly speaks from where she's sitting on her chair as if she was reading Marisa’s mind. “You can go over there and join them if you want to.”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Marisa responds.

“Uh-huh,” Eirika replies back, not at all convinced by Marisa’s lie.

Marisa only glares back, though the other girl didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest, only letting out a small laugh.

“What makes you say that I would be interested in playing a game that’s just hitting a ball back and forth?”

“Well, in the two hours that we’ve been here on the beach, you’ve watched about 45 minutes worth of volleyball matches; and you especially had your eyes on Tana that whole time.”

Marisa adverts her eyes from Eirika’s knowing expression, her face rosy pink like she was caught red-handed.

“No need to be so shy, Marisa,” Eirika jests. “Tana looks like she’s having the time of her life out there.”

“She must really love the beach…”

“She really does. Vacations like these usually one of the only few times where I’ve seen Tana be this happy. Especially since she’s free of having to deal with someone as prickly as her older brother.”

“Her brother?”

“Yup. She and her brother Innes clash very badly on occasion, and it often leaves her very frustrated with him. Some vacation time is something that she needs now, and thankfully her father thought so too.”

“Oh. I remember her telling me about him sometimes.”

“Yeah. He can be a real thorn in someone’s side more often than not. I’m relieved that she’s having more fun than I expected her to have. Especially when she saw that you came along.”

“I suppose you have a point. I could see her eyes brighten up almost instantly the moment I walked out of Tethys’ car.”

“You two must really love each other, right?” Eirika asks.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Marisa replies. “She gives off this… happiness that spreads that I can’t help but let myself be pulled into. I wish I could do something special for her.”

“Do you mind if I give you a suggestion, then?”

“... I’m listening.”

“How about once we come back here during the sunset, you offer Tana to walk around the beach with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just walk along the shoreline and spend some time with her, so you can admire both the sea and her.”

“Hmmm…”

“It’s just a suggestion, though,” Eirika comments, taking a sip of her drink. “So you don’t _have_ to do that, but give it some thought. I’m sure it would be something she would love. Plus the ocean is absolutely beautiful around the time of the sunset.”

“... I’ll keep that in mind,” Marisa says. “Thank you, Eirika. I appreciate the advice.”

“Anything to help out my best friend and her lover.”

 

~~~

 

The beach day comes and goes and the sky turns from a shade of light blue into an array of pinks, oranges, and purples. Everyone that went to the beach has cleaned up and changed from swimsuits into dresses and outfits that were more casual, ready to return once more.

While everyone was preoccupied with their own thing, Marisa walks up to Tana; who was currently having a conversation with Eirika and L’Arachel.

“Tana,” Marisa speaks, hoping that the aforementioned doesn’t hear the tiniest hint of hesitation in her voice.

“Huh?” Tana responds, turning around at the mention of her name. “Oh, Marisa! We were just talking about you! You came at the perfect time!”

“I did?” Marisa asks, a little confused.

“Eirika was just talking about how beautiful the sunset looks right now and how we could walk along the shore while watching it. I’d love it if you could join us!”

“Well, actually…” Marisa begins.

“Hmmm?”

“I was wondering… If we could go alone, just the two of us,” Marisa offers, trying to fight off the pink trying to dust her cheeks. “I never got to spend that much time with you during the day. I would like to make up for that.”

Now it was Tana’s turn to blush, the color spreading on her face almost identical to that of Marisa’s.

“W-Well?” Marisa stutters out, reaching out and offering her hand for Tana to hold. “Would you like to come with me?”

Tana simply stood there in shock, not knowing how to react to Marisa’s affection. Normally, _she_ was the one being affectionate; never on the receiving end of it. So when she sees Marisa holding out her hand for her to take, wearing a warm smile that only she’s ever seen, she suddenly feels her knees feel a little weak. It was as if she’s seeing a new side of Marisa that she never knew about until now, mainly because Marisa was always shy about any displays of affection.

Not wanting to say “no” something as special as this, Tana reaches out and meets Marisa halfway, holding her hand in return; letting their fingers interlace with each other for good measure.

“That sounds absolutely delightful, Marisa,” she finally speaks, cutting through the small bit of silence that was there. “I would love to spend some alone time with you.”

The duo says their goodbyes to Eirika and L’Arachel for now —catching a glimpse of the two of them going off to have their own small date— and make their way towards the shore, their hands still interlocked together.

“Sooo…” Tana asks. “Where did you get this lovely idea of wanting to walk the beach and watch the sunset with me?”

“... It just came to me.” Marisa responds.

 _“Marisaaaa,”_ Tana whines. “Tell me the truth.”

“... Eirika gave me the idea while we were both sitting near all our stuff earlier today.”

“I figured as such. It seems like the kind of advice she’d give.” Tana assumes.

“I just wanted to find a way to spend time with you is all…” Marisa murmurs.

“And I’m very grateful for that, especially since we didn’t get to earlier today.”

“Right…” Marisa agrees, a hint of regret in her tone.

“Awww don’t be so hard on yourself, Marisa,” Tana assures, letting go of Marisa’s hand and moves so that she’s facing her; right in the same direction that the sun was, giving her and the ocean an otherworldly glow.

Marisa was in awe at how Tana looked with the help of the sunset and the sea. Her blue eyes were glittering like the sea; her smile so radiant that it would put the sun to shame, and her long, flowing blue hair blowing in the wind was almost like the ocean’s waves themselves. She looked absolutely breathtaking that Marisa was left lovestruck, not wanting to speak a word that would break the moment.

“Marisa? Are you there?” Tana says, breaking Marisa’s train of thought.

“S-Sorry…” Marisa apologizes. “I… I was just thinking about how beautiful you look under the sunset right now.”

Even though they were only words, it was enough for Tana to turn cherry red and the expression on her face to become very flustered. She was caught off guard thanks to Marisa surprising her yet again. It was almost too much for her heart to handle; she feels like she could melt right where she’s standing and have the water pull her away, becoming one with the sea.

“Are you okay, Tana?” Marisa asks, concerned. “Your face is awfully red.”

“-’m f-fine!” Tana squeaks, her voice muffled by her hands covering her reddening face. “Just… Come here.”

Marisa raises her eyebrow in confusion, but walks closer anyway; the distance between her and Tana growing smaller. With no issue, she removes Tana’s hands from her face and holds Tana’s right hand with her left; her grip firm but gentle. Marisa’s other hand makes its way towards Tana’s face, gently cupping her cheek so Tana isn’t able to shy away from the other’s gaze.

Tana can feel the pounding of her own heart get faster by the second and wonders if Marisa’s is beating just as fast as hers.

“H-Have you been enjoying your time here, so far, M-Marisa?” Tana asks, her voice shaky when she starts to feel Marisa’s breath on her lips.

“Yes,” Marisa answers, leaning in so that their lips are only mere centimeters apart. “I have, especially with you being here.”

That was all Marisa said before she closes the last remaining bit of distance, her eyes sliding shut and her lips pressing against Tana’s.

Besides their noses bumping and the somewhat awkward angle, the kiss was softer than they expected it to be. Marisa could taste the tiniest  of coconut and watermelon from Tana’s lips —probably from the drink she had during dinner— and she wanted to lose herself in the sweet taste. After what feels like an eternity, even though in actuality it was probably only just a minute or two, the two pull away so that they can catch a small breather.

“Was… Was that okay?” Marisa whispers, slowly opening her eyes so she can catch Tana’s reaction.

 _“_ It was so much more than _just_ okay,” Tana whispers back, smiling shyly. “Can… we do that again?”

“You don’t even have to ask,” Marisa responds, her hands moving from Tana’s hand and cheek so that they can rest on her waist; Tana’s arms finding their way around Marisa’s shoulders, holding each other just a bit closer.

When the two of them lean in to kiss once more, they fit together perfectly like lock and key, and as much as Marisa is dreading having to explain that she _is_ having fun here to Tethys, she decides to let herself enjoy this small piece of paradise while she can.


End file.
